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Book Review By Louisa Eggleton
Jessica by Bryce Courtenay

Jessica is one of two girls born into a poor farming family in outback Australia. She takes on the role of the son of the family and helps her dad with the farm and shearing etc.
She becomes great mates with two boys she works with named Billy and Jack. The three are inseperable.
After an accident during a fight, Billy gets kicked in the head by a horse and is mentally damaged and called "Billy Simple" thereafter. He murders his tormenting employers and Jessica protects him from people wanting revenge and is able to bring him to court.
Jack and Jessica become closer, and before Jack goes off to war, he pledges he will marry her if he returns.
Jessica's sister also hopes to marry Jack and traps Jack into sleeping with her. She fakes a pregnancy and Jack marries her.
However, Jessica is also pregnant and will not say to whom. Many believe it to be Billy Simple while Jack is also a possibility. But she wont say.
Jessica's baby is stolen and given to her sister to validate her sister's faked pregnancy.
She is then put in a mental institution when she tells people she had a baby.
She then goes on to fight for her rights of freedom for both herself and her aboriginal friends.


Plot & Themes
Tone of book? - very sensitive (sigh)
Time/era of story - 1930's-1950's
Is this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book
Pregnancy/Child rearing Yes
Major part of story:

Main Character
Gender - Female
Profession/status:
Age: - 20's-30's
Ethnicity/Nationality

Main Adversary
Identity: - Female
Age: - 40's-50's
Profession/status:
How sensitive is this character?
Sense of humor - Cynical sense of humor
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters

Setting
How much descriptions of surroundings? - 8 ()
Asia/Pacific Yes
Asian country: - Australia
Small town? Yes
Small town people: - hostile, like Gomer Pyle on steroids

Writing Style
Sex in book? Yes
What kind of sex: - vague references only - impregnation/reproduction
Amount of dialog - significantly more descript than dialog
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